Springs Studio of Late Artist Ellen Frank Opens to Visitors

The Springs, East Hampton studio of late painter Ellen Frank will open for two Sundays in October for visitors to view little-known, early work by the artist most recognized for the monumental Cities of Peace artworks created out of her Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation.

Open studio hours are scheduled for Sunday, October 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, October 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by appointment-only viewings on subsequent weekends through November 13 at 73 Squaw Road in Springs, East Hampton.

An artist, scholar, and writer, Dr. Ellen Frank was primarily acknowledged during the past two decades as the founder in 2004 of the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, a non-profit global organization dedicated to the transformative power of art to build a culture of understanding and peace.

Cities of Peace Illuminated is its primary initiative. As artistic director, Frank trained artist-interns from more than 52 countries, and united scholars and experts to work on its joint creations.

Frank died in 2021, just 10 weeks after receiving a cancer diagnosis. She is survived by her husband, composer Stephen Dickman, who recently enlisted East End gallerist Esperanza Leon to curate and help organize this open studio event, which affords art collectors and appreciators of Frank’s work the opportunity to view a selection of pieces she created earlier in her career.

On display are paintings from the 1980s and ’90s, some of which were featured in exhibitions in California and New York, including the Vered Gallery in East Hampton.

Studies and small works from the 2000s are also displayed, including illuminated paintings and manuscripts that closely connect to her work with the foundation and the teaching she did through the Illumination Arts Atelier she founded in 2005.

About Ellen Frank

Born in 1946 in Los Angeles, California, Frank earned a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. She studied art history and connoisseurship at Yale University, the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes in London, and earned an interdisciplinary doctorate in English Literature and the Visual Arts from Stanford University.

In 2015, Frank received an honorary doctorate for Cities of Peace from the Russian Armenian (Slavonic) University.

She was the recipient of many awards in painting, book design, and scholarship including a Fulbright Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Award in Painting, New York State Council on the Arts, and a New York Foundation for the Arts grant.

In 2018, she was named Fulbright Specialist in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation, U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and World Learning, and she received an Award for Excellence for Cities of Peace from KFOR / NATO.

Visits to this exhibition from the estate of Ellen Frank can be arranged by appointment after the second open studio on October 9 by contacting Esperanza Leon at 516-527-0709 or Frank’s husband Stephen Dickman at 631-835-2645.

All proceeds from sales will go to the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, efiaf.org.

More works from the Estate of Ellen Frank can be viewed online via artworkarchive.com/rooms/ellen-frank-art/40ed95. or on Instagram at @ellenfrankofficial.